U.S. Marines from the 3rd Batallion yell to urge infantrymen to rush across the damaged Baghdad Highway Bridge, Monday, April 7, 2003, as they move forward into the city while under fire in the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, Kuni Takahashi) ** MANDATORY CREDIT ** less

U.S. Marines from the 3rd Batallion yell to urge infantrymen to rush across the damaged Baghdad Highway Bridge, Monday, April 7, 2003, as they move forward into the city while under fire in the southeastern ... more

Photo: KUNI TAKAHASHI

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U.S. Marines of 3rd Batallion 4th Marines cover themselves Sunday, April 6, 2003 at the corner of a building as they fight against Iraqi forces in southeast outskirt of Baghdad. (AP Photo/ Kuni Takahashi)

U.S. Marines of 3rd Batallion 4th Marines cover themselves Sunday, April 6, 2003 at the corner of a building as they fight against Iraqi forces in southeast outskirt of Baghdad. (AP Photo/ Kuni Takahashi)

Photo: KUNI TAKAHASHI

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IN LINE OF FIRE: Artillery hits Marines in fierce fight for bridge

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2003-04-08 04:00:00 PDT Baghdad -- You can't hear an incoming artillery shell when it's headed your way. Aerodynamics and the properties of sound are such that there is little noise ahead of it. "You never hear the one that gets you" is an adage among military men.

One got two Marines Monday morning. An artillery shell hit a Marine armored vehicle in what appeared to be a friendly fire incident. The two Marines died instantly. Three others were seriously wounded.

The shell hit the vehicle right between the driver's hatch and the crew chief's hatch, which are separated by less than a foot of metal.

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The shell appeared to have been one of several that a Marine battery belonging to another unit was firing on suspected Iraqi positions on the Baghdad side of the river. You could hear the concussive impact of a first, second, third and fourth blast as the shells hit the far shore and then the water.

"All I know is that it was an artillery round," said the battalion commander, Lt. Col. B.P. McCoy. "There will be an investigation. That's really all I know."

BRIDGE CROSSING PLANNED

The shelling came as members of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines -- based in Twentynine Palms (San Bernardino County) -- prepared to cross a key bridge into Baghdad. Iraqi forces had blown the bridge earlier, making it impassable even to foot traffic.

The bridge was key to the ability of the 1st Marine Division to cross into Baghdad and gain a foothold on the city's southeast side. From there, the division was to continue its advance into the Iraqi capital.

The 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines began its push along the road leading to the bridge on Sunday. The battalion immediately ran into an ambush. Rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and AK-47 fire rained down as soldiers moved along the street, which had houses and shops on one side and a tall earthen berm on the other.

TROOPS HATE RPGS

U.S. troops hate RPGs. They're like large bottle rockets. They're fired from metal tubes and have a nasty explosive charge in their conical heads. They can knock the track off an armored vehicle and sometimes penetrate the armor. They can't do much damage to a tank, but they can destroy a humvee or truck. When they explode, they spew chunks of shrapnel that can kill a man.

Throughout the day, the ugly "fffssssstttt" sound of an incoming RPG made Marines duck and cover and curse -- and shoot back with everything they had.

WALL OF SOUND

The air was a solid wall of sound as M-16 rifles, M-60 machine guns and .50- caliber heavy machine guns poured fire into alleys and windows.

Pfc. Brian Outman, 20, of San Jose, said he almost died four times in the Sunday battles.

"That's enough for me," he said. "I wouldn't mind going home now."

Every so often, fire from a Marine tank gun would lift anyone within 50 feet an inch off the ground. One-hundred-and-twenty-millimeter cannons tore holes through houses on the other side.

McCoy said the Iraqis were employing "Chechen-style" guerrilla tactics. Much like the fighters opposing the Russian army, these Iraqi forces appeared to gather in seven-to-10-man "hunter-killer" teams. Armed with RPGs and machine guns, they would set up ambushes, striking quickly and then disappear into the houses.

The Marines' response was to shoot pretty much anything that moved. They put infantry and snipers on the roofs as they moved along, to keep the high ground.

When the Marines got to the bridge, they found a section had been blown. They also came under heavy fire from Iraqi army and militia on the other side. All evening, artillery and mortar fire rained down, with Marines firing their rifles and machine guns across the expanse of water.

"I almost got hit by a sniper and three RPG," said Pfc. Alex Pak, 18, of Bellbrook, Ind. "I'm tired and hungry."

Cpl. Justing Fetzer, 21, of Westfield, Wis., said Iraqis kept trying to drive across the bridge, and were firing AK-47s and rockets.

'THEY JUST KEPT COMING'

"They just kept coming at us," he said.

Monday morning, the battalion's Kilo Company prepared to storm across the bridge and clear the other side. That's when the artillery round came in.

"I was standing just 10 feet away," said one Marine, shaking his head, blood streaming from his lip.

What followed was 30 minutes of shock and confusion. Marines sat huddled in the courtyard of a nearby building, their faces looking haggard and drawn. Reports came in that Iraqis intended to fire artillery on the position. Everyone sought cover.

In the courtyard, around the smoking ruins of the armored vehicle, a reporter sat down next to a young Marine, who said in all seriousness, "Mind if I smoke?"

Some Marines were stoic. Despite the horror of the morning, Lance Cpl. Thomas O'Leary, 19, of Salt Lake City, said he was proud to be there.

"I'm all about serving my country," he said, training his rifle on a point across the river.

When no more enemy artillery materialized, Kilo Company moved up to the bridge, preparing to cross. They were preceded by combat engineers who brought metal scaffolding to place over the gap.

About 10:30 a.m., the Marines moved, running past the body of a dead Iraqi, shot during the previous day's fighting.

They ran down the bridge, placed the scaffolding over the gap and leaped into the dirt on the other side, into Baghdad proper.

SCANT ENEMY OPPOSITION

Tremendous amounts of firepower had poured into the buildings and bushes as the Marines advanced. But they found little opposition. Whoever was firing from this shore earlier was either dead or had run off.

But the Marines didn't know for sure. Heavily armed infantry soldiers ran from house to house, kicking in doors.

"Ready, Crazy?" shouted one Marine to his buddy, as they prepared to leap into an alley and possible ambush. The two men sprinted into the roadway, rifles at the ready, but no enemy fire came at them.

Another Marine tried to break down a door with his boot. His sergeant stopped him. "Stand back," he said. "Let me show you how it's done." Charging full tilt, he hit the metal door with his shoulder, bursting it open. "I'm glad that worked," he said. "It would have been real embarrassing if I'd bounced off."

Along the shore near the bridge, you could see fighting holes and bunkers. Large piles of Iraqi clothing and personal effects -- notebooks, pictures, blankets -- were strewn about, as were hundreds of AK-47s and RPGs.

McCoy estimated that 50 or 60 Iraqis were killed in the two days of fighting.

Many of them died on the Baghdad side of the bridge. The charred remains of an Iraqi could be seen inside the smoking wreck of a car. Farther up, an older Iraqi, maybe 55 or 60, was slumped dead over the steering wheel of his truck. Across the road, a soldier in a Republican Guard uniform lay face down in the dirt, dried blood pooled next to his head.

Most of the others appeared to be in civilian clothes. The Marines speculated that many Republican Guard soldiers had changed into civilian clothing in order to fight guerrilla style. They said the soldiers knew U.S. troops would not fire on them if they were unarmed and dressed as civilians.

"Look at those people, driving around like there wasn't a war going on," one Marine officer said, watching the vehicles approach.

Some journalists who witnessed the shootings speculated that innocent civilians were behind the wheel. They said the Marines did not do enough to warn the drivers before firing.

SUICIDE ATTACK RISK

The Marines said the cars and trucks were driving fast at the defensive positions, and were therefore likely suicide attacks.

They had been told of other such attacks; a sister battalion had encountered one a couple of nights before. There also were intelligence reports that militia, or Fedayeen fighters, were driving ambulances packed with explosives, looking for military vehicles to destroy.

The order came down: You see an ambulance driving fast toward you, shoot it.

There was no way to determine whether the people who were shot were the enemy or civilians.

By the end of the day, the Baghdad side of the bridge was secure, and engineers built a pontoon bridge across the river. U.S. tanks and armored vehicles slowly crossed, on their way to other objectives in the city.

The Marines also were coming to grips with the horror of the friendly fire incident. Kilo Company called up a practice fire mission labeled "danger close" -- meaning within about 600 meters. The purpose, McCoy said, was to make the infantry Marine comfortable with close-landing artillery again.

"I don't know what the truth is about that round, but I know this," McCoy said. "Artillery has saved a lot of lives. We owe a lot to them."

With the pontoon bridge in place, McCoy said, the Marines would next concentrate their efforts on the city of Baghdad, as the Army has been doing from the other side of town.